At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic
At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung
You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping
Your caffeine addiction level: high
I got adventurous this morning and tried a big batch of muffins... cranberries are my favorite!
This is a double batch (24 muffins) to make some for the freezer- great to thaw, warm, and eat on the go on those hurried Sunday mornings (or on your way to work.)
Preheat oven to 400
2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries
In large bowl combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.
In another bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened, batter should be lumpy.
Spoon into muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack.
These would be good with almonds or walnuts mixed in as well! And perhaps a streusel topping... get creative.
Enjoy,
ali
While it's not exactly the bulk cooking I was planning on getting to, I am cooking up a big batch of my favorite creamy white chili tonight, in hopes that there'll be a bunch left for lunches for the next couple of days- then I can have minimal other cooking requirements over the weekend so I can get to all the other cooking & baking I'd like to get done before baby comes. That is assuming, of course that baby waits until the induction on Monday... we're trying to pre-empt an emergency speedy delivery on or just after my due date on the 11th (but my original due date was the 6th... ) There is always the possibility of actually going into labor early. I've never done it, but stranger things have happened... Anyway, back to the soup- This is my adapted version of the recipe supplied me by my wonderful aunt, Linda, who happens to be a fabulous cook (as is her twin LouAnn!) and is the closest our family gets to having its very own Martha Stewart... while my sister Sylvia has pretty much got the role summed up for the spot in my generation. Again I digress, back to the soup... my recipe makes a pretty big batch, cut it down for smaller families if desired- but really, like most chilis, the leftovers are almost better than the first serving... so if you have a smaller family you could still make up a big batch and just consider yourself blessed to have so much more leftover than those of us with more mouths to feed on the first night! (I've considered making 2 pots just so there will be more leftover!)
Ali's White Chili 2-3 lbs cooked Chicken or Ground Turkey 1 or 2 onions, diced several stalks of celery, sliced/diced 2 49.5 oz. cans Chicken Broth (I've been known to use 1 can broth and one can water...) 1 lb. block of Monterey Jack Cheese (I usually use PepperJack, more flavor!) 3-4 cans Cannellini Beans (white kidney beans) 3-4 cans Great Northern (white) beans 2 cups Salsa (your choice of intensity!) Cilantro, to taste
Add cheese shortly before serving, stir until melted and incorporated. I often add some cornmeal to thicken the soup a bit more, depending on my cooking mood. There is a lot of rrom for flexibility with a soup like this. Sometimes I use more meat, sometimes more beans, sometimes less broth, sometimes more cheese... I'll often play with spices and add oregano and cumin as well, it almost always turns out just a little bit different than it did the last time, but it always turns out good! Serve with some cornbread, plenty of corn tortilla chips (it's good with a handful crushed and mixed in), maybe some fresh chopped tomatoes and avacodos, whatever suits your fancy... oh, and for those with no 'white stuff' aversion- mix in some sour cream when serving.
Now I need to jump up and stir, and get the corn bread in the oven. Enjoy! ali
After posting a little 'picture scrapbook' of one of our breadmaking endeavors
I received a request for my recipe. While I can't actually claim
the recipe as my own, I do actually own a copy... The recipe I use
comes from a little booklet I got when I purchased my grain mill and
big mixer- it's entitled "Bread Basket Cookbook for Large Kitchen
Mixers" by Martha Green, Green Acres Publications 2001 revised edition. It can be found at www.joyfulmomma.org and www.marmeedear.com
as well as a ton of other useful sites you'll find if you'll simply
google it... (I cannot vouch for everything on these 2 sites as I
haven't given them a thourough going over, the site I got mine from is
no longer what it once was...)
Basic Whole Wheat Bread
2 loaves 2 cups very warm water (110 degrees) 1 1/2 Tbsp SAF yeast (I don't think the brand really matters, but many bakers use this kind) 1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup oil (corn, safflower, canola, light olive- I use canola
or light olive, extra virgin olive has a strong flavor that will come
across in your bread) 2 tsp salt 1 Tbsp dough enhancer 1 Tbsp wheat gluten 2 cups freshly milled flour
Mix on med. speed until well blended. Let this
mixture stand until bubbly- at least 15 minutes and no more than
30. Then begin adding more flour, 1 cup at a time, until sides of
bowl begin to clean. (Do not wait until they are all the way
clean- you will have too much flour and dry heavy bread.) Begin
kneading time when sides are just about clean. Knead for 7-9
minutes depending on the strength of your mixer. Place dough on a
clean, oiled surface and form loaves (or rolls). Place loaves in
greased loaf pans and make 2 diagonal cuts in the top of loaves
(optional!) Let rise 30-40 minutes in a warm place (it may take
longer if it's cool and drafty in your kitchen, at least it does in
mine in the winter!). Loaves should be nice and rounded when
risen- whole wheat bread will not rise much more during baking so let
them rise nice and high. Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes or until
llightly browned. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks with a
light towel covering loaves. Slice only when completely
cooled. (yeah, right, who can wait for that with the smell of
fresh bread in the house?!)
To get some
great suggestions for variations on this recipe (and the 6 loaf
version) and other great recipes (the pizza crust we use... honey bear
bread... cranberry cinnamon rings- I've only made that one once, but it
was good!) you'll have to get yourself a copy of this nice little
booklet.
**please note that this recipe is for whole wheat
flour- it's not the same as bleached white flour, it doesn't bake up
the same, and it doesn't taste the same. If white bread is what
you want, find a white bread recipe... that being said, you can
substitute a bit of the whole wheat flour with white to get a little
lighter bread, but only a bit...
Since getting my big electric griddle, we've been in
frequent pancake mode. So I thought I'd post my absolute
favorite, all natural, very filling, bulk pancake mix recipe.
Oatmeal Pancake Mix 7 cups unbleached or whole wheat flour (I used fresh ground whole wheat)
2 cups old fashioned oats
8 tsp baking powder
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
Mix well and store in a sealed freezer bag (or your favorite container of choice)
If you use store-bought flour, this should be good in the fridge for up
to six months, otherwise store on shelf and use within 3 months.
If you use fresh ground flour you can store in fridge for a week to 10
days or so, fine if you make pancakes most mornings for
breakfast. I actually divide my mix into three bags and store one
in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.
To Make Up
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups mix
(add a little water if they are too thick- I almost always add some water)
These are very dense and filling pancakes, especially if you use whole
wheat flour. We usually add lots od berries and maybe banana
slices. Some folks add chocolate chips to pancakes for a special
treat for the kids... I dunno, it seems a shame after all the old
fashioned goodness of the old fashioned oats and fresh ground whole
wheat... I'm funny that way, I only add chocolate chips (the mini ones
are great) when I'm using a store-bought mix...
Well, hopefully someone out there will get some enjoyment from this recipe- we love 'em here!
(also- I usually go ahead and make 3 or more batches, if you're gonna
take the time to make a bulk mix, why not take the time to make a
bunch? I mark the date on my freezer bags and put a whole stack
of 'em in the freezer.)
